SSCI 2700U Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Walter Benjamin, Consumerism, Trivial Pursuit
1. Pop Culture
Consuming Us: The Dark Side of Consumerism
Consumption as Hegemony
“Mass reproduction is aided especially by the reproduction of the masses” – Walter Benjamin
From Shopping to Social Control
Alter people’s behaviours
Enforce social order
Commodify public spaces
Devalue communal bonds
Science of Shopping
Consumers are constantly subjected to
1. Manipulation
2. Surveillance
3. Lack of privacy
4. Multi-billion consumer research
Implications: New Brave World
How responsible are corporations?
5. Degradation of the environment
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